The Flexomix continuous agglomeration system is a powerful combination of a number of functionalities:
- Powder handling system
- Powder dosing system
- Binder dosing system(s): water, steam, and other liquids
- Schugi® Flexomix mixer and agglomerator (FX),
- Schugi® Fluid Bed Dryer and Cooler (FBD)
- Air system including blower and heating/cooling equipment
- Air exhaust system including cyclone and filter
- Product classification and size crusher (if necessary)
- State-of-the-art integrated control system
This combination means that base powders can be fed as a mixture or as multiple powders in parallel. An accurate, gravimetrical powder feeding subsystem ensures a constant powder/liquid ratio and a liquid dosing skid ensures accurate flow control and a constant powder/liquid ratio in the agglomerator. This liquid skid can be equipped with a stirrer or a heated tank for example, or in the case of solution binders, a preparation tank.
Powders and liquids can be fed into the unit through top inlet(s) using air atomizers which combine with turbulent air flow inside the mixer’s vertical chamber, mixes powdery and liquid particles intensively and instantaneously.
The Flexomix has been designed to be compact whilst allowing for homogeneous mixing of powders and liquids at capacities of up to 40,000 kg/h. To achieve this, the Flexomix has a flexible mixing chamber and a shaft with pitch-adjustable mixing blades that rotate at high speed. The resulting granulates have a porous, raspberry like structure in particle sizes of 0.1 to 1.2 mm and with a D50 between 300 and 700 micron at low to medium density.
The wet granulates from the Flexomix are then processed in a Schugi® fluid bed dryer which is divided into several compartments. The front end compartments are used for drying; the rear for cooling. Product height in the bed can be altered from between 100 and about 500 mm (average 300 mm), and depending on the application, variable residence times can be achieved by adjusting the bed height.
The Flexomix agglomeration system has an air system and air exhaust system including cyclone and filter, as well as a one or two-deck sieve and an oversize crusher for product classification.
